George Clooney has made a provocative proposal to former President Donald Trump.
After the Wolves star attracted attention in July when he penned an op-ed calling on President Joe Biden to forfeit his 2024 reelection bid – an argument Biden later followed through on – Trump criticised Clooney in a post on his own Truth social network, saying the “fake movie actor” should “get out of politics and get back on TV.”
On Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Clooney responded to President Trump’s suggestion.
“If he does that, I do that,” Clooney said. “That’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept.”
Kimmel even suggested Clooney write another essay urging current Republican presidential nominee Trump to drop his candidacy, saying, “It worked once. Why not try it again?”
Clooney then mocked Trump after Kimmel pointed out that Trump often works with friends on films, such as “Wolves,” in which he co-starred with longtime friend and fellow A-lister Brad Pitt.
“I’m a big star,” Clooney joked, referencing Trump’s comments in the infamous “Access Hollywood” video, before adding, “They make you do it.”
Clooney denied that his op-ed played any role in Biden’s decision.
“The man to be celebrated is the most selfless president since George Washington,” Clooney said at the “Wolves” press conference at the Venice Film Festival.
“All the machinations that got us there will not be remembered, and they shouldn’t be,” he continued. “What should be remembered is the selfless act of the person who accomplished the hardest thing. It’s very hard to give up power. We know that, we’ve seen it all over the world. And when someone says, ‘I think there’s a better way,’ all the credit goes to them, and that’s the truth.”
The actor, who has since endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, expressed similar sentiments about Biden’s op-ed on Kimmel.
When Kimmel called the op-ed a “big shot” and said it “changed the world” and “had a huge impact on the presidential election,” Clooney said, “I don’t know if that’s true.”
“At the end of the day, it’s very hard to give up power, but President Biden has done something really incredible,” Clooney said. “And I really think that’s the thing to focus on, honestly.”
He also urged his friend Oprah Winfrey, who made a surprise appearance during Kimmel’s monologue, to run for president, even saying that she should run instead of him.
Clooney then said he’d recently found some “William Jefferson Clinton” notepaper that Kimmel had given him. The late-night host explained that he’d received a letter from former President Bill Clinton, so he made a copy of the notepaper and gave it to Clooney. The actor and known prankster then used the notepaper to send fake letters to other stars.
“I’ve sent every actor I know a letter from Bill Clinton,” Clooney said, “and I’m trying to find their worst movie and say, ‘I was on a plane and I saw this…'”
Kimmel also sent Clooney a notepad with Pitt’s name on it, which Clooney said he “sent to everybody.”
“I sent it to Don Cheadle. I sent it to Tom Cruise and told him I’d love to do Interview with the Vampire 2, but this time I want Brad to play Lestat,” Clooney explained. “I sent it to Meryl Streep along with a box of dialect CDs and said, ‘This is the person who fixed my accent in Troy, and I think it’ll work for you.'”
Kimmel added that Pitt had heard Cruise call him about the sequel letter and say he was in favor of the changes, but Pitt had no idea what Cruise was talking about.
Clooney said his friends feared him because of his reputation for being a prankster.
“When you do something really mean and long-lasting, it’s like you have a nuclear weapon and everyone gets scared,” he said. “Someone called Richard Kind and said he wanted to do some punk or some stupid show like that, and they were trying to punk me. They called all my friends and were like, ‘No! He might put a body in my apartment.’
Clooney and Pitt also took part in a pre-taped sketch in which their Wolf co-stars played roles similar to their characters from the Apple show, with Kimmel recruiting them to “take out” their longtime fake nemesis Matt Damon.
